Animagus Troubles
by GrangerGirl222
Summary: "This is the type of Gryffindor thinking that gets people killed, you know," Malfoy muttered darkly as the party of Slytherins slowly crept back to the hallway. Hermione looked up, locked eyes with Parkinson, and promptly decided that she must've done something very bad in a previous life. *One-shot written for HP Creature Fest. Dr/Hr, post war. T because I'm parinoid.*


**A/N: If you are currently reading my larger story, please don't hurt me for posting this and not a chapter. I wrote this in September/October? for the HP Creature Fest because of a link I found on Tumblr. I'm now going to post it here because I want to. If you've never read anything of mine before and wish to endulge in a chapter story, please check out either** All Because of the Feelings **, or **I Hate You, I Really Do **. I prefer the latter to the former, as the former is the longest thing I've ever written. Anyhow, here's my One-shot. Enjoy:)**

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"Aaaah!" a bushy-haired girl yelled in frustration. She tugged her red and gold tie from her neck and flung it carelessly away from her person. A sigh of frustration left her lips as she slumped down on the floor by the couch, her feet sloppily throwing themselves underneath the coffee table.

"Just calm down, Hermione," she muttered. "Deep breaths…"

After a few seconds of nothing, Hermione was at peace. Then her stomach growled and suddenly she regretted skipping dinner to work on her homework. A nice cup of tea and some biscuits would do her some good. Nodding to herself, Hermione stood up and made her way to the Kitchens.

She kindly told the House-elves that she could make her own tea, thank you, and most of them left her alone. They were, after all, used to her knitting and protesting antics by now. Hermione sat down at one of the small tables by the enormous, roaring fire with a platter in one hand and a book in the other. Munching on a biscuit, she re-read the already worn book about Animagus transformations.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she lost focus on the text she already had memorized. _Why hasn't she mastered it yet?_ She's been working on it since sometime last summer when she found a particularly large text on Animaguses in Sirius' library. Another reason for needing to know was simply because Hermione desperately needed to know. She never quit a project when she got started, and this she definitely wouldn't quit. She'd spent countless hours studying over the summer, as she was staying with her parents, and complicated magic seemed to be the only logical thing to keep her sane as she practically lived as a Muggle.

Hermione felt for another biscuit and looked down in surprise when she couldn't find one. Mindlessly she'd eaten them all, and only a drop of tea was left in her cup. Feeling somewhat satisfied, she decided to try for a good night's rest.

Hermione went through the steps in her head over and over, wondering what was missing. It was wand-less magic and very complicated. Ron would always tease her when he saw her reading her variety of Animagus books in her spare time. He irritated her quite quickly.

_Just think animal,_ she told herself. The steps and tips swarmed through the bookworm's already crowded brain. She shut her eyes for a moment to concentrate harder, desperately wanting to know what she was missing. A loud bang brought her back to reality.

When she opened her eyes, she was one foot off the ground and looking at her book out of the corner of her eye. Frowning, she reached out to grab it. _I didn't even feel the fall. I do feel tingly, though—_

Her whole mind went blank when – instead of her slightly pale fingers – a paw grabbed her book. She trailed up the arm with her eyes, a large grin replacing the shocked look she knew she was harboring when she realized that it was _her_ paw.

She jumped up in glee, looking around desperately for a mirror of some sort. None were in sight, so she walked over to her book in curiosity. How strong was she in Animagus form? She gripped the book and heaved, only managing to move it half of a foot before she tired.

Hermione bit her lip in thought. She'd just have to change back and walk up to the Head Dorms as a human. She concentrated and thought – she even clenched her fists – but every time Hermione opened her eyes, she was still frightfully covered in brown fur and too close to the ground. Panicking, she grabbed her ears and pulled.

_I want to be an animal and I can't. I want to be human and I can't. What is this?_

But it could be worse. What if she'd transformed into a fish, after all?

Sighing, Hermione hid her book behind a tapestry and walked among the shadows, finding that four legs were easier than two in this form. She was making good time when laughing flew to her ears. Her blood ran cold and her tiny heart nearly stopped. Slightly obnoxious voices could be heard coming in her direction, and Hermione instantly knew who they belonged to; Slytherins. And more importantly, Draco Malfoy – their ring-leader.

Pansy Parkinson's strident voice forced Hermione to cover her ears as she hid behind a suit of armor. She was frozen as they passed; Zabini, Nott, Parkinson, and Malfoy.

Hermione blew out a puff of air and stuck a finger in her ear when they turned the corner. That girl has to be half-banshee. In her haste to leave in the opposite direction, Hermione slipped through the suit's legs, knocking the whole thing down. Lying on her back, she discovered that she had a tail.

She hissed and whined squeakily, trying to wiggle out of the armor that was trapped on her.

"Did you _hear_ that?" Parkinson asked shrilly.

"Of course we heard it Pans – _let go of me_ —"

"Let's go see what it is!"

"This is the type of Gryffindor thinking that gets people killed, you know," Malfoy muttered darkly as the party of Slytherins slowly crept back to the hallway.

Hermione looked up, locked eyes with Parkinson, and promptly decided that she must've done something very bad in a previous life.

"Oh my God!" Pansy screamed shrilly. "It's so _adorable_! I think it's a kitten! Draco, hurry and help me get this off of her."

"How do you know it's a girl—"

"Shut up and lift, Nott," Parkinson growled. Once Hermione was free, she ran in the opposite direction of Pansy. Unfortunately, that also meant that she smashed into Malfoy's legs.

"A kitten, really Pans? This is an _otter_," Malfoy said snidely, reaching down to lift up Hermione. She left out another whine-like-squeak and scurried away from him, running into Pansy again.

"Awe, it's scared!" she cooed. "Come here baby!"

Parkinson snatched up Hermione in one swipe, holding Hermione to her chest. "Sh-sh-sh," she murmured. "It's alright now. No need to be afraid."

"I'd sure as hell'd be afraid," Zabini muttered to Nott. They snickered as Pansy glared.

"Oh shut it. I'm going to love her and make her dresses and – OUCH!"

Hermione had struggled with all her might the moment Parkinson said dresses, and when the opportunity arose, she bit her. The problem with that, though, was that when she did, Pansy threw her into the air. Malfoy caught her with his lightning-fast quidditch reflexes and held her with two hands under the arms. He scanned her for precisely five seconds.

"I think I'll keep it," he stated.

Hermione stared at him with wide eyes, her heart beating fast. So she had to choose between Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy. On one hand, she would be Malfoy's pet, who she could possibly communicate with to help change her back. On the other hand is playing dress up with Parkinson. Hermione gripped Malfoy's finger with her paw tightly.

"No Drakie! I'll feed her and everything—"

"It doesn't even like you Pans. Face it—"

"It's a _she_, Draco," Pansy said in an irritating voice.

Malfoy glared at her, at the same time bringing Hermione closer to his chest. "Oh, how do you know?"

Pansy sniffed. "I can just tell."

Malfoy scoffed and looked down at Hermione. "How..._can_ you tell?"

Nott got a stupid grin on his face. "Well Draco, boys usually have—"

"I _know_. Salazar, why do I hang out with idiots?"

_Beats me,_ Hermione thought. _Don't know why you bring them back to the Head Common Room so much either._

Hermione stiffened at the realization. Her only way back into her room was Malfoy, the Head Boy. She wouldn't have been able to say the password in the first place. What if Peeves had found her instead of Malfoy? She shuddered. Malfoy tutted at her.

"She's cold now—"

"Ha!" Pansy screeched. "_She_!"

Malfoy positioned Hermione so that he was carrying her like a baby. "Pansy, I swear to Salazar—"

"This is pointless. I found Jessabelle first—"

Malfoy snorted. "_Jessabelle_?"

"Yes, Jessabelle," Parkinson said, irritated. "And. _She. Is. MINE!_"

Parkinson swiped at Hermione again, snatching her up like a cat does a mouse. Hermione wouldn't let her freedom escape her like that, though. She wasn't going out without a fight. Hermione grabbed as much of Malfoy as she could with her paws and squealed at the top of her lungs. Nott and Zabini were about to piss themselves in laughter. Something about Pansy Parkinson trying to put an otter off of Malfoy was just comical.

Pansy was just too determined, and when the inevitable – Hermione's paws coming loose – happened, Hermione took a little piece of Malfoy's shirt with her. Then she bit Parkinson for the second time that night. This time she just dropped her, and Hermione landed with a _thump_ and bounced on the ground. The corners of her eyes watered, and before she knew what was going on, Malfoy had scooped her up and was walking away.

"But _Dra_kie—"

"No Pansy. It's already past curfew anyway. I'm surprised we all don't have detention by now," Malfoy said briskly.

Hermione fisted her paws into Malfoy's shirt again, just in case Pansy decided to come up from behind and nab her.

Maybe it was the soothing beat of Malfoy's heart against her ear, or maybe it was the reassuring feeling she got when the door to the Head dorms closed, but sometime along the way to Draco Malfoy's bedroom, Hermione Granger fell asleep.

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When Hermione woke up, the first thing she did was shiver. Why was her room so _cold_? She'll have to talk to McGonagall about her temperature. The next thing she did was reach for her blanket to pull it closer to herself. She couldn't find it, but she could feel it. She reached forward and forward and forward...

And promptly fell over and into the floor. Hermione groaned, stopping in the middle when it sounded more like a whine. Slowly her eyes popped open, and she felt like crying. She wasn't in her room; she was in Malfoy's. She was lying on a blue plush blanket, and she didn't fall out of bed. She tipped a woven basket over that she was placed in.

She pounded her tiny fist on the ground in annoyance. _I'll try until lunch to change back myself. Then I'll resort to Malfoy for assistance,_ Hermione decided.

A door opened and Hermione looked up to see a towel-clad Malfoy fresh from the shower, laughing at her.

"Hey there," he whispered with compassion, leaving Hermione stunned. "What've you been doing?"

He walked towards her and picked her up. Hermione wasn't sure if otters could blush, but on the inside she was redder than all the Weasleys combined. The only thing Hermione could do as Malfoy held her against his chest was keep her paws to herself, literally. She made herself into the tiniest ball she could and waited patiently for him to put her down.

He looked at her oddly, but complied with her silent wish and placed her on his bed. She squirmed around, eventually resting on one of his giant, green satin pillows. Briefly she thought about pooping on it. Malfoy went back in the bathroom, leaving Hermione to gaze around his room. She's never been in here before. Never been up his staircase at all, actually. She never wanted to. Everything was green and silver with a dash of medieval. Hermione ended her scan of his room with the dresser/mirror in the corner.

She could just barely see herself in the top. Carefully, Hermione crawled off his bed and onto the chair in front of it. Casually she took in her Animagus form. Her eyes were deep black, except tinted her shade of brown where the iris' should be. Her fur was a bit too shaggy for an otter's, and it was just her mousey color. There were even some lighter spots where the tiny freckles on her nose were. She was pleased.

A clothed Malfoy came out of the bathroom then. He watched Hermione with a crooked smile, his head sideways in thought. He just shook his head at her, going out of the room but leaving the door open so that she could follow if he wanted to.

"Granger," he called in a bored voice. Hermione tensed up, but relaxed when she realized he was talking to the staircase that led to her bedroom. "Granger!"

She tensed again when it hit her that he wanted to talk to her in human form. Thinking fast, she ran down the stairs and pawed at his leg. He raised an eyebrow at her but lifted her up anyway.

"Where's Granger?" he asked. "Do you know? Maybe she off and spent the night with that idiot Weasley. He's been eyeing her for too long."

He was silent a moment as he sucked on his cheek, but then a thought struck him. "What do you eat…?"

Malfoy carried Hermione into the kitchen and set her down on the counter. "Worms? Fish?"

Hermione scrunched her nose up. If he even _thinks_ about feeding her any of that…

And just in case he got any bright ideas, Hermione jumped off the counter and crawled into the common room, seating herself on the sofa. She tried to think human.

_Turn back, turn back, turn back!_

Malfoy broke her concentration when he flung himself onto the sofa, making her bounce in the air. He peered at her.

"How the hell did an otter get into Hogwarts?" he mused aloud. Hermione's muscles went taunt, she hoping beyond hope he wouldn't think too much into it and discover the truth.

Hermione tried to act otter-like, and in her attempts, walked in a circle on one of the pillows before laying on it. Malfoy, however, seemed to be a bit of a cuddle-er. He picked her up and placed her once again on his chest, noses almost touching.

He scratched behind her ears until she relaxed, Hermione's paws having folded themselves into his shirt.

"That's my girl," he murmured. Hermione looked at him in shock, which in return shocked him immensely. Hermione was shocked because he was consistently showing affection for a living creature. Malfoy was shocked because the otter on his chest seemed to understand him.

"Do you know what I'm saying?"

Hermione continued to stare at him with large, unblinking eyes. _How horrid would it be it I changed back right now?_ she pondered to herself.

Fate absolutely hated her, so in his attempts to make her life hell, Hermione Granger transformed back into her human form as she was on Malfoy. They stared at each other for several long minutes, the first thirty seconds consisting of Hermione awkwardly straddling his lap after sliding down his chest. She was still in her Gryffindor uniform from the day before, and from the corners of her eyes, she could see that her hair was an absolute _mess_.

And it wasn't even a pretty mess, either. She looked as if she'd just woken up and decided to stick a butter knife in an electric socket, then after that she teased her hair. That was how bad it was.

The silence was broken by Malfoy, and Hermione jumped an awful lot when he started laughing. Her already red face brightened even more, and it light up like a Christmas light when he stopped laughing, instead looking her up and down with his lip bit.

"Granger," he purred. Hermione then noticed how intimate they were getting. She tripped in her haste to get off of him, landing on her butt by the couch.

"Granger—"

"Shut it!" Hermione rasped, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat. "Just – just – _no_."

Hermione shut the door to her room numbly and slumped against it. She'll never look Malfoy in the eyes again. He's going to torment her about this _forever_. She buried her face in the palms of her hands and moaned loudly. Malfoy teasingly mimicked her from downstairs.

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Malfoy did torment her about the otter incident, but it wasn't the torment Hermione was expecting. In her mind Hermione imagined a lot of bad puns, public humiliation, and several badly drawn pictures shoved underneath her door.

She didn't expect smirks in the hallway, no one knowing anything about it but them, and subtle winks sent in her direction every now and then.

Hermione was in a constant paranoia, the sensation of vomiting always in her stomach. _If he hasn't done anything yet, that means something dreadful is up his sleeve,_ Hermione thought with sorrow. _My life is going to suck bollocks now_.

One day after classes, Hermione just couldn't take it. She'd been sitting on one of the Common Room armchairs, minding her business when Malfoy came in, hardly spared her a glance, and starting reading. _Reading!_ The _nerve_ of that boy!

In a surge of rotten Gryffindor bravery, she stood up and walked over to him, crossed arms and all. She waited a few seconds before clearing her throat.

"Yes Granger?" Malfoy asked in a bored tone. Something about that sentence caused Hermione's eye to twitch and back teeth to grind.

"Oh you know," she spat out ignorantly without thinking.

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I do? Well then, that's that."

Malfoy started reading again. Hermione opened her mouth slightly, her tongue pressing into her bottom teeth to stop her from talking impulsively.

"Malfoy," she tried again. "What are you going to do?"

"Read."

She almost groaned aloud. "I mean about – about –"

Malfoy put down his book to watch her struggle. "Yes?"

Her lips thinned. "I know you know about the – um, my Animagus abilities."

He nodded slowly, like she was stupid.

"Are you going to _say_ anything about it?"

He shrugged. "What's there to say, little otter?"

She snapped. "Malfoy, I swear to Merlin, if you tell anyone, I'll curse you around Hogwarts and back. And don't think I won't know. It's quite obvious if everyone starts sniggering at you when you enter a room—"

"I'm not going to tell anyone."

"—and Harry and Ron'll have their say, too. Don't think they won't—"

"I won't tell."

"—it'll be a right shame if your face gets covered in tentacles again—"

Malfoy stood up, causing the breath in Hermione's throat to hitch. She'd been leaning over to intimidate him, but now they were chest to chest. Hermione's neck was craning to look up and make eye contact.

"I'm not going to tell."

After long seconds of nothing, Hermione muttered something like, "Oh," or, "Well," or possibly even a cross between the two.

He looked like he was about to say or do something, but then his head turned away. His body was about to follow suit when Hermione spoke. Her curiosity was just too much sometimes.

"Why?"

He smirked and looked over each of his shoulders like he was about to tell a big secret. Hermione leant forward out of instinct, the left side of her face inclining so that her ear was closer to his mouth.

But then he kissed her. Her hands came up in her surprise, but she didn't try to shove him off. There was nothing unpleasant about it, after all. He was just a boy. A forbidden one, but still a boy. His hand rested on the flat of her back, the other falling on her waist. They pulled back after a while, both panting and Malfoy smiling wide like the Cheshire Cat.

"Because pet, you're quite cute like that."

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**A/N: Sooooooo, did ya like it? Review and tell me! Also check out my other stories (also Dramione). Until next time,**

**-GG222**


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